This is an essay about my school experience and schools in America.
How was it? How was the study? Was it hard or easy? These will be the question that will be answered. Have fun and enjoy!!!
ESL
To begin off, my experience was amazing, the studies were good too. In the beginning, when we came to the United States, We went to ESL in school, (English as a second language.) because our accent wasn’t good, we had an Indian accent. To change our accent they placed us in the ESL and brought us an American accent. Being in ESL was good and the teacher was good too.
She helped me and my sister. In ESL, they taught us social studies and science. Since we were in ESL we couldn’t learn science or social studies with our homeroom teacher. Finally, at the end of the year, we took a test in ESL, and we passed it, by attending an access test.
It almost happened for 1 week, the test was separated into four categories, they were reading, writing, speaking, and listening. There were one or two breaks during the test, we had to stretch or go to the bathroom or drink some water. Then, soon we went to fourth grade. That’s all I know or got about ESL.
Math
Math was a pretty hard subject, the way they taught us was different from India. There were so many methods to do multiplication, subtraction, decimals, fractions, addition, division, and more. For example, area model, area model is used for multiplying, that’s just one of the methods do multiplication. But there is more. Sometimes we attend diagnostics. I will explain that in the tests chapter.
Literature
Literature is a hard subject for me, in my personal opinion. There are lots of methods to just write a sentence, they are: Main idea, thesis statement, and RACE, also maybe there is more that we did not start learning. We can’t just learn them in one week it has to take more than three years to be a pro at it. The teachers taught the students how to write stories like I am writing now.
Like, For RACE, R is for Restating, A is for Answering, C is for Cite the evidence, and E is for Explaining the thinking. See, like I said it is super hard. For example, we have to read a big story and then find what the story was trying to tell, that kind of reading and writing is the Main Idea. Sometimes our teacher gave us an activity like a class activity.
Another example is one time our teacher set so many books on the desk and she also held a timer in her hand, when she started the timer we had to move around and sit on a desk that had a book in it. We have to read and write the theme or the word that we don’t understand. This happened when I was in 4th grade.
Science
Explaining science is hard because it has so many things to explain. You have to be there to understand it. Science is fun, easy, and sometimes hard. But we use playdough to model. We create drawings, we use tools and things to create a big model.
For example, when I was in 4th grade our teacher gave us some play dough to create the earth’s structure and layers so we could understand a little bit better. Sometimes the teacher would do acrobatics like ours did, if we finished our work, or did a good job in science.
We all gazed at it and smiled. Also, there is a lot of fun, when we are attending Science there is so much to explore. Another example is one time our teacher explained about tectonic plates and she told a small story about her being in California and how there was an earthquake. The way she explained was amazing.
Social Studies
In my opinion, Social Studies is hard. In my other opinion, Social studies is so fun. The teachers would teach us about Native Americans and how they lived, how their culture, food, dress, and entertainment. For example, when I was in 4th grade my teacher separated all these kids into groups, she told us that each of us would have to work on a topic. My topic was tools.
We had to write all the tool names and how they were used it. Finally, on the last day, we have to present it to all the kids in my classroom. Presenting was hard because my friend and I were a little bit shy, but no matter what we presented. In 5th grade, we were learning about merchants, trading, the southern colonies, the northern colonies, and the Europeans.
Studying is hard, but like I say “Do it no matter what!!!”
Celebrations
The celebrations are my favorite part and also the fun part!!! We celebrate when there are holidays, for example, Halloween, Valentine’s day, Christmas, and birthdays. We get to bring so many treats for the party in our homeroom. We can bring gifts and stuff. For example, if it was Christmas we could bring gifts to our teachers. Last year, I and my sister made handicrafts.
Then, the teacher placed food on the counter. It was bagel cream cheese, bagel, chocolate chip cookies, orange juice, chips, donuts, rice crisps, and all-time favorite CHOCOLATE! ( But they are not my favorites, I like spicy food. )
I and my friends played Lemonade crunchy ice hand game. We had a dance party and we moved to the other homeroom the other teacher set out stationery items for crafts, and she even played a movie, ( Which I don’t remember)
Then, soon we had hot chocolate we drank and after that, the movie was over and the teacher played another movie which was an emoji movie, but then the students went to their homeroom to do other crafts and games, still, there were some people who where watching the movie. Soon, it was time to go home. Like this, we have so many celebrations, if it was valentines the kids would give out valentines and gifts.
Websites
There are a lot of websites. One of them is I-ready. I-ready helps kids learn, we have to do it daily. I-ready includes Math and English to learn. And it gives tests in I-ready. I-ready is just one of them. The other one is ABCya. Every kid likes ABCya! Because it is a game website we get to play it if we have free time. ABCya includes all kinds of games: word puzzles, mazes, scavenger hunts, and more.
The next one is clever and includes I-ready and other learning things like extra math, extra math teaches kids to do math faster, for example, if there was 9+1= the kid must know it’s 10, and the game only gives 2-3 seconds. The next one is cool math, coolmath is similar and the same as ABCya! There are a lot of games: 3d run, 2d run, and more.
All in all, these are the websites we use to learn, play, and do more activities in school.
Level
To know the kid’s level, the teacher will give the reports. In the report, there will be a graph to see last semester’s score and this semester’s score. The I-ready also gives a score. Depending on the kid’s I-ready score the kid will get I-ready Math and English lessons.
Tests
The tests are the hardest part in my opinion. The hardest one is the diagnostics, it is the test to check our skills. It happens in i-ready. Most of the kids don’t like doing the tests, so they rush through them, then they have to take it all over again. Then, there is the comprehension check.
If you do well it will be 96% or 20% depending on how good you did. Then, there are small short tests on paper that you could attend quickly. Linkit is another kind of test that is made by the teachers and given by the teachers.
You just have to enter the code that the teacher gives and you can attend the test. Linkit has 10-30 questions unlike diagnostics have 40-60 it almost takes a week to finish the diagnostic and the LinkIt. These are the tests that will be given.
Parent Conference
Parent Conferences happen unpredictably, well they let us know by emailing us. Also, it is when the teachers talk with the parents about the child’s behavior. They talk about our level of studies.
Free Time
Every kid loves free time. In our free time, we can dance, draw, play computer games, and more. We can even make slime. We can play ABCya and Coolmath. If we want we can visit other classes. The teachers are so kind they even help us do anything and give us directions. All in all, this was my experience of how free time was fun. Or boring? Hope you enjoyed it.
Specials
Specials are when we have a gym, music, art, dance, Science lab, Spanish, and digital citizenship in the afternoon. According to my schedule, I have a science lab and dance on A day. Then, on B day I have Spanish and intervention. A day and B day are the names of our day if it was A day like I said I would have a Science lab and dance. If it was someday else I would have a gym and digital citizenship.
G&T
G&T is amazing, well in my opinion. The teacher was awesome. So, G&T is for gifted and talented kids. 4th grade to 5th grade, I had G&T. G&T ‘s means gifted and talented. There we could learn all kinds of fun stuff like engineering, stem, and more. For example, This year we got to read a story about a sloth who was stuck in a tree and couldn’t climb down because there were crocodiles.
We have to figure out how he was going to climb down obviously!!! We built ladders, we built slides, well, the slides were my idea!!! And we have to use stuff like paper, cardboard tissue rolls, and other things. And that was engineering. So this is it.
Orchestra And Band
Well, I can’t wait to tell you about this. In this class, we get to work with instruments, like the cello, viola, bass, and violin. The class which includes strings is the Orchestra. The other band class includes flute, drums, and more. I and my sister play the violin. The violin is fun. We earned our white belt and yellow belt. Which was hard to get, the teacher is awesome. She teaches us properly, let me in on you guys with a secret. In 1 day we got our yellow belt which is surprising. There is more to tell but I can’t tell everything in this post.
Dentist
A dental checkup is a pretty big deal. When I was in 3rd-grade mom and dad signed up for the dentist checkup which was happening in the school. The school dentists called us by grade. When it was my turn I was pretty nervous. The dentist cleaned my teeth with a tissue and a brush, she didn’t do anything to my teeth, and I was relieved. This is pretty much what I know about School Dentists.
Incentive Day
This is the famous part. We get to pick our activities, so Incentive day happens at the end of the month. Well, for example, when I was in fourth grade, there was a poster in my mailbox. I loved to get new messages in my mailbox. A mailbox is a box that is at the end of the classroom.
Each kid has their mailbox. In the mailbox are the letters for instance there was a food drive happening and others could donate. Then, the food drive message would be in our mailbox, in that way the food drive might increase. So, as I was writing there was a poster in my mailbox that said “There is an incentive day to collect as many golden tickets as you can!!!”
Well, golden tickets are yellow tickets that you could get from a teacher, only if you behave well. Well, I got a lot of tickets (Aww, shucks). We can choose our activity so we can do it on the incentive day. There were 10 activities, but not exactly. The ones I remember were Minecraft, Nail day, and more!!! So, I picked a nail day. It costs 20 tickets, but my sister had 19 so I gave her one, now we were equal (Aw!).
As the incentive day came nearer and nearer, I and my sister were excited as well as my classmates. On the incentive day ( which everyone’s been waiting to hear) we went into the room. There were so many things that we could decorate, and of course, the teachers were going to do our nails. Also, since my favorite color is Purple, I decided to choose that. My sister, who loves Pink, decided to do her nails in pink, we decorated and did all sorts of things!!!
Supplies
Supplies were also needed and provided. For instance “ Glue, rulers, crayons, color pencils, pencils, scissors.” These were kept at the back of the classes. If we forget our supplies, we can go back to the classroom and get what we need, so we won’t waste class time.
But we have to put it back.
Middle School Plans
If you are a 5th grader, then you gotta get ready for middle school which is 6th, 7th, and 8th. I was in 5th grade and according to my school. A guidance counselor from middle school came, and she told us, you got to pick 5 different electives ( Electives are extra, special classes. Like, Computer Applications, Stem, Theatre Arts, Visual Art, Rock Pop Music Ensemble, Leadership Mindset, Money Matters, Dance, Chorus, Band, Orchestra, Spanish or French, Intro to Band, and Intro to Orchestra. ) I was in Orchestra already in Elementary school, so I didn’t choose Intro to orchestra. I was interested in Spanish.
All in all, this was my school experience. I am traveling in the journey of 6th grade. I will continue sharing my experiences. This is how the school is and I hope you liked it. Here is one of our posts I’m sure you’ll like: https://twinsparkle.com/all-about-animals-series-1/ And don’t forget to visit our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMH6D1L7nNjDeWuIFKgGcOA
